Friday, June 29, 2018

CA Stores Blasting Barry Manilow Tunes At Loiterers

Some Rite Aid stores in California have taken to blasting Barry Manilow tunes as part of a plan to make loiterers scramble.

Employees told the Wall Street Journal that the drugstore chain has been testing the tactic of playing songs by the 75-year-old crooner outside their stores — over and over, loudly — to deter panhandlers and vagrants.

“I thought some older man had died and left a Barry’s Most Depressing Hits CD on repeat,” said Lisa Masters, a professional drummer in Long Beach who couldn’t open her windows without hearing “Mandy” blaring.

“I felt trapped in an episode of ‘The Twilight Zone,’” she said.

When she called Rite Aid, she said an employee explained that the Manilow technique had worked at other locations and was now working in Long Beach.

“His attitude was, ‘Would we rather have panhandlers or Manilow?’” Masters said.

A Rite Aid spokeswoman told the paper that customers were finding it difficult to enter some of their stores because of loiterers, so the chain started employing a couple of deterrents — including Barry Manilow.

“We are in the early stages of exploring this approach and have not made any decision about the potential rollout of this to additional stores,” she said.